Which printer do you use?

[JDArt]

Which photo printer do you use (the most). And could you give me some idea of how satisfied you are with it, as well as how much you think it costs you in ink to run? Thanks.

[ellette]

I just bought an Epson R800.

I have not yet set it up or tried it out and though this is going to sound mean, I am purposefully not setting it up yet because my 31 year old sister who is living with my parents keeps asking to come over and print things out (she's semi- out of work and half-heartedly looking for jobs). I don't want to become her free copy store and use all my ink before I've even gotten stuff from my new camera that is worth printing out (the camera which I am hoping I'll be able to order in a week if the rebates come out when they said they would).

So...long story short, if it wasn't for my sister I'd probably be able to answer your question as to how satisfied I am but likely wouldn't yet know how much it costs me in ink to run it. I'll be interested to see what others who have one though say!

Sara - I know I sound like a horrid sister, but I'm just tired of watching her use my parents and try to use me...she is a 31 year old who acts like a very very selfish 18 year old.

[Mr. Pickles]

I use an old beater, the Canon S900, which does up to 8x10's. There was an S9000 whcih was it's big brother (13x19).

The S900 isn't made anymore (they got a better one), it does borderless, and that is what I use on 4x6's. It holds 6 ink tanks, each one costing about $11 or so. Since they are seperate, hard to judge print quantity if you do primarily one color printing (lots of green stuff for instance). I think I figured it up a long time ago, and my 4x6's were around 30 cents. Seems you can get cheaper 4x6's at a store, 5x7's are sort of break even, 8x10's is break even to you save a bit, and then if you have a bigger printer, you can save over having someone else print it.

I like the quality a lot. It does a great job. I use Qimage to print, and once you have settings that match any odd paper you use, you can save them and you have no issues. I usually stick the prints in a frame or in a photo sleeve in a book, so they don't deteriorate on me like others claim theirs do.

For "true cost per prints", refer to this thread:
http://www.photocamel.com/index.php/....html#msg19874

[dc2]

I have had a canon I9100 for the last 3 years and can honestly say straight out the box this has been a good printer so easy to set up .New inks about 50 English pounds

[scoundrel1728]

Still using my old HP Deskjet 720C that I selected specifically for its comparatively low cost per print at the time. I haven't used it enough to tell if it is really as inexpensive as all that, but I have noticed that invariably yellow is the first of the three colors to run dry. (Black is in a separate cartridge.)

[Mr. Pickles]

Originally Posted by dc2

New inks about 50 English pounds

Ahh come on, they ain't that heavy

[ohenry]

I'm using a Canon !960 that I enjoy. Wish I had gone with a wide carraige and might consider a 9900.

Not sure of how much ink I use as I've never really paid that close of attention to that.

[dc2]

Originally Posted by Mr. Pickles

Ahh come on, they ain't that heavy*

Spoke to soon it died on me Am picking up a i9950 on Wednesday Think they said its about 500 English pounds .Will send a truck

[SensorDust]

I have an Epson Stylus Photo 2200.

Wide carriage to print A3 size paper plus it has a paper roll dispenser, for panoramics up to 44" long. The best part is the inks, seven individual ink dispensers. The Epson device drivers do a great job printing RGB images using the CMYK inks. I am very happy with the picture quality. It can print on watercolor papers, canvas, and other fine art materials.

Since the new 2400 model came out, I suspect the 2200 will become more affordable.

[dmacgee]

I us an HP 1315 PrinterScanner. Pretty good quality. Still want to get an epson down the road but it makes due. For larger work I tike my stuff to Costca a a local printer.

[ChrisD]

I used an Epson 830 (also known as 820) for 2 years and although it has produced nice results it still suffers from longitivity issues associated with dye based inks. Also had a few colour issues mostly with browns going slightly more to green on a few photos while all other colours we very close to original.

On another note I just had an Epson 7800 delivered and installed today and so far the prints are stunning. Extremely large, expensive and heavy printer (just over 65Kg) but it I think a very good investment. So far started with the matte ink path and was a little surprised when they said they had to install the photoblack ink first before could do a matte black conversion for first time as I remembered someone mentioning could go matte straight away without problems.

Either way all is well with the few prints made so far, colours seem very accurate and love how it looks on the matte and fine art papers. Probably will write more about it in the next few days after I make some more prints/

[Neil V]

Canon ip4200 for 'around the house' kind of stuff.

Epson 2200 for my 'good' stuff.

[topdog]

I just purchased the Epson Stylus Photo R800 on sale, with rebate $249, no shipping, no sales tax. I realize I will not be able to print large prints however since I am not professional, 8 x 10 or 8½ x 11 should do me just fine. If I shoot at dog shows and sell pics, 8 x10 is the norm. I am sure Epson is set to come out with something new soon. I have always been happy with Epson Ink and Paper. Now just to get it set up and my old 890 goes to my granddaughter.

[dvdowns]

Canon S520 for 2 years now , 3 colour cartridges and a black cartridge . Very nice pictures and I refill to save money since I will always have the original in digital format and can reprint any time . I do very little printing whcih is apparently the advantage of the canon which uses less ink compared to an Epsom which wastes quite a bit or clogs up if not used for a while [ I was told ]

[hartcons]

Canon i9900. Haven't had to do a single thing to it (except when it comes to ink I think it may be related to that strange flower in Little Shop of Horrors). No banding, no head cleaning, no software problems (guess it's not an Epson then!) I don't know if the default colors are neutral (for instance Ilford recommends yellow -15, intensity +5 for their smooth pearl inkjet paper) but the printer driver lets you adjust a bunch of things and save off custom settings. Haven't had a chance to try color calibrating it yet. Maybe prints a bit on the dark side by default.

I'm starting to think that inkjet printing is very expensive/time-consuming. Lots of time and money being put into stocking/replacing ink and paper. But you get to fiddle and tweak and "have it your way".

We also have an inexpensive Epson Photo R200 which does a surprisingly good job on photos. Our Epson 1280 has been converted to grayscale using special Lyson black inks (and it works much better now than it ever did in color using epson ink).

[Bill Huber]

Originally Posted by topdog

I just purchased the Epson Stylus Photo R800 on sale, with rebate $249, no shipping, no sales tax. I realize I will not be able to print large prints however since I am not professional, 8 x 10 or 8½ x 11 should do me just fine. If I shoot at dog shows and sell pics, 8 x10 is the norm. I am sure Epson is set to come out with something new soon. I have always been happy with Epson Ink and Paper. Now just to get it set up and my old 890 goes to my granddaughter.

I also have the R800 and an R300, the 800 is the one I do must of my printing on. I have found that the Ilford Smooth Pearl Paper is just awesom in the R800, that is if you like sim-gloss paper. I also am using the Ilford Gloss paper and like it just as much as the Epson and for me that is saying a lot, I have always been an Epson paper person.

This is about the cheapest I have found for the ink and paper. Very good company to deal with.

http://www.atlex.com/index.html

[Kevin Barrett]

An Epson R800 for proofing and small prints. A Pro Color Lab for most my other work.

[Mar Det]

I'm using the Epson R1800, the results are GREAT!